1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus for inspecting the discharge performance of a droplet discharge head that discharges droplets of liquid, and to a droplet discharge inspection method that inspects the discharge performance of a droplet discharge head using this apparatus.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-195621, filed Jul. 1, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, apparatuses that employ inkjet technology exist as droplet discharge apparatuses that perform thin film formation and patterning and the like by discharging droplets of a liquid such as ink. These apparatuses are provided with a droplet discharge head that is supplied with a liquid material (i.e., a liquid) from a liquid material supply portion, and a stage that causes a substrate or the like to move relatively to the droplet discharge head. The apparatuses perform the thin film formation or patterning by discharging droplets onto the substrate while moving the droplet discharge head based on discharge data.
In these apparatuses, usually, an inspection is made prior to a normal droplet discharge using such an apparatus as to whether all of the nozzles in the droplet discharge head are in a proper condition, namely, whether there are any abnormalities such as blockages or adhesion of contaminants and the like.
In this inspection method, normally, a nozzle check pattern is drawn on paper on which a liquid material (i.e., ink) can be easily seen, namely, on paper that provides good visibility, such as white paper, and an inspection is made as to whether or not droplets are being discharged normally from the nozzles by viewing the condition of the obtained drawing using the naked eye or a microscope.
Among inkjet recording apparatuses that record by discharging ink onto recording paper, in particular, an apparatus is known that determines the condition of the ink discharge by reading the image recorded on the recording paper using a reading device formed by a line sensor (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 6-143548).
However, in droplet discharge apparatuses that are used industrially, there is a trend towards increasing the number of nozzles in the droplet discharge head in order to raise productivity. Currently, droplet discharge apparatuses are used in which, for example, in a single droplet discharge head, nozzles are arranged in 2 rows vertically by 180 rows horizontally to provide a total of 360 nozzles. Moreover, several, for example, 12 of these droplet discharge heads are provided in a droplet discharge apparatus.
Accordingly, in this type of droplet discharge apparatus the total number of nozzles is extremely large, and when a visual inspection is made using the naked eye or a microscope, as is described above, the time needed for this inspection becomes lengthy and is the cause of a major drop in productivity.
Moreover, in inkjet recording apparatuses that discharge ink onto recording paper, as is described above, technology is known that determines the condition of the discharge using reading devices formed by line sensors. However, currently, no technology has been provided for performing checks in a short period of time for droplet discharge heads that are used industrially and, accordingly, have a large number of nozzles, as is described above.
The present invention was conceived in view of the above described circumstances, and it is an object thereof to provide, particularly in a droplet discharge apparatus that is used industrially, an inspection apparatus that makes it possible to inspect easily and in a short period of time the discharge performance of a droplet discharge head of the droplet discharge apparatus, and a droplet discharge inspection method that inspects the discharge performance of the droplet discharge head using this inspection apparatus.